Leighton Meester has become a face — a mane? a scalp? — of Herbal Essences. She says her personal stylist always uses it. Stars have to lie about these things, but couldn't they at least make it convincing? [Elle UK]

Gisele Bundchen flat-out admits that she does not design any of the shoes in her flip-flop line, Ipanema. " I am very inspired by nature and like to use that for my ideas, but actually designing them — no way. I would be a disaster," she told a reporter in Paris. A portion of the proceeds goes to a charity that reintroduces turtle hatchlings to the wild. [WWD]

"Today, of course, outrage is a readily traded commodity - nobody really gets fussed when a model prances down the runway in a pair of rubber fetish pants. We don't see the point anymore. And how many fashion brands would dare to change the look of their stores every few years? Maybe that's why Mr. McLaren never limited himself to fashion." Cathy Horyn reflects on the life of Malcolm McLaren, who died yesterday in Switzerland. [On The Runway]

The London Times — coming late to this story — has a unique take on Terry Richardson. It seems to think that in admitting to be "really hurt" by the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him, Richardson in some way hurt his solid-irony image. [ToL]

Crystal Renn, on the fashion "trend" of plus-size models: "I hope it's not a trend! It shouldn't be a trend, it should be the norm! I think that what designers are doing is extremely positive. I think the catwalk is probably the last place that will catch up to the editorials and the ads that I'm sure are going to come. What Prada did, was amazing! Yes, the girls are still thin but it's a step in the right direction. I remember screaming from my computer looking at Style.com — I thought that was so positive." [HuffPo]

Olivia Palermo — who, despite "working" for Elle on that terrible reality TV show, is blogging about her style for British Vogue this month — says, "I remember when I got my first Hermès Birkin. It was such a pivotal moment - especially living in New York - to have received it. It was like joining a fashion clique and finally becoming one of the tribe." What tribe? The tribe who thinks it reasonable to spend $7k on a bag? [Vogue UK]

More bad news for Tuleh. The company, which was no longer meeting its debt obligations, was run by designer Bryan Bradley and business director Marco Cattoretti, and backed by Trilea Holdings. Bradley and Cattoretti are nowhere to be found, and the company is said to have fired its entire staff and vacated its headquarters. Trilea might be looking for a new creative director, according to one anonymous source. [WWD]

This relatively comprehensive, only slightly catty, history of models' attempts to make music misses only one obvious mark: Karen Mulder's two dance singles, which actually charted in France in the early 2000s. [Independent]

"Find-the-New-Beatrice has been a hipster parlor game, but Mr. Sevigny is ready to move on. 'I don't know what they're going on and on about,' he said. 'It was a small neighborhood bar.'" Do you hear that? Even Paul Sevigny is sick of talking about what stupid basement is the Next Beatrice. It's gone and it's not coming back and it was only a good place to hang out insofar as it avoided being terrible and it was a really long time ago, fashionistas. [NYTimes]

After the debacle that was last season's Milan fashion weekend, the biggest designers, including Armani and Prada, have voted to accept no fewer than a seven day Italian fashion week in September. When Anna Wintour announced she could only spend three days in the Italian city this February, it triggered a cascade of re-schedulings and re-re-schedulings as designers scrambled to fit themselves into such a compressed schedule without overlapping. If all the brands that struck this agreement hold to it, Milan's fashion week, for the first time in ages, will actually be a week. Good for them. [Vogue UK]

Beverly Johnson's ex, Mark Anthony Burk, is suing the supermodel for emotional distress. He alleges that she turned up at his house with an armed man, and forced him to sign a separation agreement that would have paid him $2,000 to move out of her house. Burk is also suing the producer Robert Evans, apparently in the belief that he had something to do with the alleged gun plot. [TMZ]

This PETA video with Joaquin Phoenix is, well, intentionally disturbing. It's about the exotic skin trade, and it portrays the deaths of snakes, lizards and crocodiles. Many reptiles evolved with slow metabolisms, so they can survive sometimes for days even after being skinned. What PETA doesn't mention is that hunting snakes in Southeast Asia is also extremely dangerous for the people who do it. Will this stop Hermès from using exotic skins in its products? Please. That category is up like a gajillion percent since the recession. [PETA]

Loehmann's is denying that it is in financial trouble, as reported earlier this week by the New York Post. [Reuters]

"I love Style.com, it's the Wikipedia of fashion…It's really like, just the facts, ma'am, please. Here are the pictures and here's what we can tell you about the show and here you go. That's one of the things that has changed fashion, Style.com…it's like Xerox and the copier. Style.com is an amazing Internet engine. You put it up there with Google and all that other stuff." — Barneys New York buyer Julie Gilhart. [Style.com]

Garment workers in the cotton industry have higher rates of chronic respiratory problems due to exposure to dust and something called endotoxin, which is obviously really bad for you, just look at that name, Jesus. A new study tracked cotton workers and silk workers — people who work with silk get the dust but not the endotoxin — for 25 years and found that some of this lung damage is reversible. Most cotton workers, in fact, see their lung function improve, typically within 10 years of retirement. Doesn't that make us all feel better about buying cheap-o imported clothes? [Reuters]

New York state senator Eric Adams would like the young men of this town to pull their damn pants up. And also to get off his lawn. [WWD]